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How to setup an MbedOS project using only the mbed-tools CLI

Prerequisites:

  • Python3
  • CMake
  • An editor that uses clangd for intellisense/autocompletion of c/c++
    • eg. VSCode with the c/c++ extension
    • Clion
    • vim/nvim with some lsp client installed and setup to use clangd

Open a terminal / command prompt window.

  1. Run pip install mbed-tools

  2. mbed-tools uses some optional libraries but it doesn't install them automatically, so run this too (optional): pip install intelhex prettytable future

  3. Run mbed-tools to make sure the cli is installed properly and available! You should see a help menu and list of commands printed out.

  4. Run mbed-tools init to create a new project, or run mbed-tools deploy to setup mbed-os with an existing project (the project should have an mbed-os.lib file specifying which mbed-os version to deploy)

  5. Run mbed-tools configure -t GCC_ARM -m NUCLEO_L432KC to set up the cmake build system for the NUCLEO_L432KC microcontroller (run this for as many MCU's as you want, it will create separate build directories in ./cmake_build/ for each one!)

  6. Now run the build system manually with CMake to generate the compile_commands.json file (necessary for clangd to find mbed-os): cmake -S . -B cmake_build/NUCLEO_L432KC/develop/GCC_ARM -GNinja -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=1

  7. To make clangd find the generated compile_commands.json file, there's two options:

    1. Create a file named .clangd in the project's root, in which you specify the path to the compile_commands.json file: 
      CompileFlags:
  CompilationDatabase: ./cmake_build/NUCLEO_L432KC/develop/GCC_ARM
    2. Create a symlink (shortcut) to compile_commands.json in the project root. Run ln -s cmake_build/NUCLEO_L432KC/develop/GCC_ARM/compile_commands.json . for MacOS/Linux, or create a shortcut manually in file exporer on Windows

  8. Now, restart your editor. Clangd should have found and parsed your mbed-os configuration for your specified microcontroller! Eg. start typing pin aliases like PA_2 and wait for autocompletion to show up. Then go-to-definition on one and you should be brought into the mbed-os source code.

  9. To actually compile the code, use the mbed-tools compile command. It's flags are identical to configure's flags, with the addition of -f (flash code) and -s (open serial terminal). They can be compined like this: mbed-tools compile -t GCC_ARM -m NUCLEO_L432KC -f -s (compile code for NUCLEO_L432KC mcu, then flash it, then open a serial terminal)

Steps 5-8 will have to be repeated any time you want to switch microcontrollers.